Record number of women candidates vying for parliament seats in Japan

The number of female candidates for the Oct. 27 House of Representatives election is higher from the previous record of 229 in the 2009 elections, as both the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and the main opposition Constitutional Democratic Party (CDP) of Japan ratcheted up their support for them, according to the Kyodo News Agency on Wednesday.

The high women participation in the electoral process came as a recent report by the World Economic Forum found that Japan ranked 118th among 146 countries in the gender gap rankings in 2024, the lowest among the Group of Seven industrialized nations.

Of 341 candidates, 136 are those who have a relative in office and inherited their position, or whose parents or grandparents have been members of parliament, reflecting so-called hereditary politics in both the ruling and opposition parties.

In the LDP, such candidates totaled 97, accounting for 28.4% of its overall candidates, including Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

Whereas, the CDP, which discourages hereditary succession, has pitched 27 such candidates, or 11.4% of its total.

Online poll observer

In a first, a town in the western province of Tottori introduced an online poll observer on Wednesday for the general election's early voting due to a shortage of staff.

The step from the town of Nambu comes as the prefectural government has been striving not to reduce the number of polling stations due to a lack of poll monitors amid an aging and declining population.

Whereas, voters in Ishikawa province, which was hit by a strong earthquake on the Noto Peninsula on New Year's Day, have called for government support for swift reconstruction.

Some of them argue that "now is not the time for elections" given the region was also hit by record heavy rainfall last month.